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‘Is it too late to say I don’t want to get involved ?’ Romy called out over the roaring helicopter, while holding her drone’s remote control in her lap.

‘Bit late for that now. Don’t you think?’ Stone followed the dirt track blindingly fast.

Her heart pounded in sync with the helicopter’s speed as she fought to keep the drone steady and locked on.

With her thumbs tight on the sticks, she set it to follow the controller’s GPS.

It wouldn’t match the chopper’s speed, but it would track their route—chasing them from above, like a slower shadow.

She then braced as the world blurred past her window.

‘Wait. Are we talking about last night?’

She scowled at him. ‘How can you joke at a time like this? When we’re chasing down a bad guy by helicopter!’

‘Don’t forget the video your drone is capturing. It should make for a great movie.’

‘Finn won’t let me use the footage.’ She wasn’t even going to bother asking. ‘And if you make me crash this drone, Stone, I swear I’ll blind you with my rig light and leave a zoom lens impression in your skull.’

He didn’t even glance her way. Just tightened one hand on the controls, while his sunglasses shielded whatever reaction he might’ve had—except for the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth as if amused.

‘Well, hell. Don’t think that’s enough to scare me off. But it’s nice to see the real you, shortcake.’

Her heart punched harder. She looked away, trying to blame it on the altitude. Or the drone. Or anything but the man flying beside her.

He dipped the chopper lower, a shift so smooth it barely registered—until it did.

‘Strap in tight,’ he said, voice almost casual. ‘This next bit gets fun.’

Oh God.

She caught her reflection in his sunglasses—wide-eyed, flushed, and completely rattled.

And he’d seen every bit of it.

But right now, she was too breathless to react.

‘Don’t you feel it in here?’ Stone patted his chest.

‘Feel what?’ How she felt about Stone? Or this mad chase across the outback?

‘The rush. The adrenaline spike.’

‘I see you get off on it.’

‘You don’t know the half of it, baby. Hold on, I see the van.’ Stone steered the helicopter to drop low behind the trees.

Romy’s stomach felt like it was still somewhere above the spinning blades, barely skimming the treetops.

As he skimmed close to the ground, Romy’s fingers dug into the seat, her knuckles white. Her breath hitched, making her stomach twist on itself. She had never been more terrified. ‘ What are you doing, Stone?’

‘Sneaking up on him. The sound will be a shock and then the dust plumes will blind him.’

The speed was blinding as it was. ‘Done this before, have we?’

‘Used to do cattle mustering. And Two-stroke and I would play games with each other. I’d hit him when he’d just washed his ute and fill the back with sand.

’ He chuckled, acting so calm while racing into a thoroughfare of trees barely wide enough for them to pass through. One wrong move and they were toast!

She had to talk about something else, while checking her drone was still playing automatic catch-up. ‘You miss Two-stroke, don’t you?’

‘Every day. He was like my brother.’

‘Is this the same…’ She nodded at her seat.

His smile fell and he focused on the front. ‘I sold that helicopter. Couldn’t fly it again.’

‘How long before you flew after that?’

‘A few months. When I came back home with this new chopper.’

‘What made you do it? Come back and fly again.’

‘Finley and the boys.’ Stone’s sigh was soft over the headphones while he kept his eyes on the narrow channel that they were zooming through, leaving leaf debris to swirl behind them like the aftermath of a storm. ‘I only stayed away that long because my dad died not long after Two-stroke.’

‘Oh, no. What happened?’

‘Heart attack, behind his desk. Stress got him.’ Stone was so cold.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘But you’d lost two people you were close with, in such a short amount of time.’

‘Only Two-stroke mattered. My father was like a stranger. As a kid, he never had time for me, especially not after my mother passed…’

Was that why Stone was always asking Romy about her mother, making sure to leave her messages? Because he’d lost his own mother.

For a moment Romy forgot the scary ride, more worried about poor Stone. ‘Surely you saw him at the breakfast table or something. He’s your dad. I’d see mine every morning, when I’m not working on location.’

‘Nope. I got sent to boarding schools, and summer schools to steer clear of him.’

‘What about Christmas? Birthdays?’

Stone shook his head. ‘The only time we saw each other was when I was in university and he wanted me to work at the company as an intern, grooming me to be like him.’

‘Did you like it?’

‘I hated it. It bored me to tears, chasing time for paperwork and filing.’

For an adrenaline junkie like Stone, who was right at home calmly steering a helicopter after the bad guys, she just couldn’t picture him being in an office at all. ‘You said you met Two-stroke in that bar when you were skipping work, hating your job. Was that…’

He nodded. ‘I quit my job the day I met Two-stroke, twelve years ago. Well, actually, it was a week later that I formally quit, because Two-stroke and I partied pretty hard. It took us a while to sober up and make some solid plans. Two-stroke missed his cousin’s wedding during our binge session.

But our ugly mugs made the gossip section of the local paper, and his mother didn’t speak to him for a year after that.

’ Stone chuckled as trees bowed under the force of the rotors, leaves tearing from branches and swirling into the air like confetti caught in a whirlwind.

Romy’s drone lagged behind in its automatic chase mode, so she bumped its altitude higher—far enough to clear the dust and debris from Stone’s chopper as it skimmed close to the ground.

The drone’s feed stabilised, but only just. Definitely not steady-cam smooth footage, but more like a handheld horror film shot by a terrified intern still in school. Yet, she kept it rolling as she gritted her teeth. Shaky or not, Finn said they needed the footage.

She also had to keep talking to distract herself from her stomach pitching in a way that made it hard to keep her breakfast down. ‘And your father?’

‘He sent lawyers to find me, refusing to let me quit the empire he’d sacrificed his soul for.’

What sort of company had his father run? ‘I’ve heard you talk a lot about business figures, industry awareness… Do you still work for the company your father founded?’

Stone said nothing, choosing to focus on flying.

That’s when it hit her. ‘You have the backpackers looking after the house when you go away. Is that for company meetings? Like, are you on the board or something?’

‘I couldn’t quite give it all up.’

‘What sort of company are we talking about? Mining? Agribusiness.’

‘You mean you haven’t googled me yet?’

Oh, she wanted to now. On land. Somewhere slow and safe. ‘How rich are you?’

‘Rich enough to enjoy the toys, but smart enough to not let my job rule me. There is more to living than a job.’ He tapped on the drone’s screen in her hands. ‘It pays to put that down once in a while and look around with no filters.’

‘I love my job.’ But she was too scared to look closely at her drone’s imagery, not at the speed they were travelling.

‘Me too.’ He grinned. ‘Now, hold on, shortcake, we’re going in hard and fast, and let’s hope no birds fly out and hit the blades.’

She wanted to scream, gripping her seat on the scariest ride of her life. ‘ You’re going to kill us.’

‘Not today, I’m not.’

‘I hate you right now.’ And she hated that confident grin.

But then that studious look washed over him. It was the same look he’d given that crocodile who’d dared to attack her… Stone was going in for the kill.